why penguins make me cry

1. we went to a screening of the doc "march of the penguins" today, and it brought back memories of our trip to south america last year, which included seeing two species of penguins and was an awesome experience.

2. the theater was full of children and not of older, academic, national geographic-subscribing couples, like i thought it would be, which made me think of hans and how he deserved to get to see the film, too - nevermind that three-fourths of the children there were not prepared to sit through a full-length film.

3. the film showed the tenderness of the penguin couples quite beautifully - they are monogamous, at least for the season.

4. when an egg or a chick is lost, the penguin parent in custody (they pass custody back and forth so that everyone gets to eat) looks lost and wails horribly and leaves the tribe until the next year. i can so relate.

5. the father holds the egg on his feet all winter, shielding it from the cold with his flabby stomach. when the chick hatches and the mother returns with food for the chick, before he leaves for his turn to eat, he and his chick sing to each other so they know each other's voices and can find each other again when the father returns. how could i not cry at that???